Where did the world go?

You sound very defensive right now.

Peteren gripped the side of the bed, still listening to the guitar intently. Sim and Quail conversed, Buck had started sketching, but Peteren still listened to Leon, drinking in every bit of the music flowing from him. After a while more, Sim tapped his arm. "Hey, Pete. If you don't mind ignoring  Apollo over there, come look at this." Apollo? He recognized the name faintly from his early days in school, but couldn't recall anything about it. Sim reached behind them and pulled out a book from under the covers. It was old and worn, but legible. The title was Wayward Vagabonds Journey. It had a dark cover, with a strange man wrapped in bandages. "Is that a book?" Peteren asked. Books were also rare, usually never being on the market, and being fairly expensive. The last time he'd read a book was in school, and it had been strictly educational. Sim nodded, smiling. "We've all got something special to contribute to the group. I've got my book, Leon's got his guitar, Buck's got his drawings, and Quail has her... knowledge." Sim winked. He didn't understand their meaning.

They held the book out to him, but snatched it away before he could grab it. "What are you gonna contribute?" They asked. He paused, hand still outstretched. He pondered for a moment. "I've got Tunx." He said quietly. "My slave." Sim considered this. "I can see how that helps you, but how does it help the group?" Peteren thought for a moment. He suddenly recalled the catching game. "He can play catch. And give massages. And I'm sure I could teach him other things." Sim nodded, accepting this. They handed him the book. "Give it back when you're done."

He nodded, holding it close. He turned it over, reading the back. It was slow work, as he hadn't read large sentences in a while, but he understood most of it. He suddenly realized Leon had stopped playing guitar. He felt disappointed. He liked the guitar. Buck was still sketching on a piece of paper. "Isn't paper expensive?" Peteren asked. Buck snickered. "Give a kid a coin and they'll sneak a whole pad plus pencils from school. It's great." Peteren's mouth fell open. "You're paying kids to steal? Isn't that immoral or something?" "Nah. The kid's not gonna get arrested. And they get a coin out of it, so bonus for them." Buck shrugged. "So whatever." He went back to sketching. Peteren peered at his drawing. It appeared to be a basic frame for a face. He looked closer at the drawings on the wall.

One was of a female. She was at the park, sitting by the lake. It was intricately detailed, even having the ripples of the water. Another was several trees, also presumably from the park, each one drawn separately. There were three different types, but he didn't know the names of any of them. Another was of Quail, sat next to one of Leon and one of Sim. Next to it was an unfamiliar man, with dark skin and dark hair. Another drawing was simply of the room, again intricately detailed. He noticed in the corner of the room, the real room, there was a pile of discarded sketches. The one on top was just a multitude of hands, some crossed out. Buck was a good drawer, odd for someone who looked so threatening. 

"If you don't mind my asking." He said to Sim, breaking the silence. "Why on earth would you want me as part of your group?" "Well." Sim said. "That guy-" They jerked their thumb at the drawing of the dark man. "Wayne, turned 20 a half rotation ago. It was pretty unexpected. No one actually knows their birthday." "Oh. I do." He said. A "year" was actually just 36 and a half rotations. He kept track of the days by Tunx, who somehow always knew what day it was. A few days ago it had been day 123. His birthday was on day 274. Sim ignored him. "I'm, like, 18ish. Leon's about 19. Quail's 14 and a half. The dominas know her age well. Buck's 16ish? Maybe 17. But that's beside the point. We like having a group of 5. Nice round number. Leon's the oldest, and he's the one that decided that we should nab you. He liked the way you looked, I guess. Thought your appearance might give us some advantage. Dunno why, though." "I'm nothing like you guys though. I don't like breaking rules. I don't offer much." He didn't know why he was protesting. He guessed it was because he still didn't want to associate himself with the troublemakers, so he was kind of resisting their group.